Students stress as HSC texts take hours to arrive

Amy McNeilage and Josephine Tovey

The Board of Studies NSW has apologised to HSC students who received their text-messaged results hours late.

A spokesperson for the board said that, although the text messages were dispatched about 6am on Wednesday, delivery may not have occurred until between 10.30am and noon.

HSC students took to social media to vent their frustration after spending hours awaiting their results to arrive.

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@samindigo13 complained on Twitter she only received hers at 11.23am, while @Team-Judith posted at 11.21 am "only JUST received the HSC result text message #pathetic'."

Earlier this week, 160 students were sent the wrong HSC results by text, as a result of a technical glitch.

Selective and independent schools again dominated results this year, with the selective James Ruse Agricultural High School scoring the highest number of top band results.

Other high performing selective schools include North Sydney Boys High School, North Sydney Girls High School and Baulkham Hills High, while SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Sydney Grammar School and Kambala are among the top independent schools.

Comprehensive public schools with a high number of students receiving marks in the top bands include Willoughby Girls High School, Cherrybrook Technology High School, Mosman High School and Burwood Girls High School.

Almost 16,000 students received a top band in at least one subject and 1286 students achieved top bands in five or more subjects.

The Board of Studies NSW said over 8000 more students received an HSC this year compared with 2001. Over the same period, the number of students achieving a top band result has jumped by almost 6500 and the number of students receiving five or more has almost quadrupled.

The president of the Board of Studies NSW, Tom Alegounarias, said the proportion of students reaching the top bands had stabilised at a very high level over the past five years.

He said the exams were generally thought to be a lot harder this year.

Katherine was particularly pleased with her results in chemistry, where she scored 96 out of 100.

She received impressive marks in other courses too; including 96 in English (Advanced), 49 out of 50 in English extension 1, and 49 out of 50 in Mathematics extension 1.

But she's still nervous about receiving her Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) tomorrow.

"I would love to do law at Sydney Uni, that's what I'm aiming for," she said.

Around 60,000 students had accessed their results by 10am, with the internet the most popular method for checking results, followed by SMS. About 2500 students were already waiting on the website at 6am when results were released.

Students used Twitter to vent their nerves or express surprise as they saw their results for the first time.

"Um, I don't think these are my HSC results, they're WAY better than what I was expecting," wrote user @JessicaSurjadi.

"Unexpected hsc results , no matter what my atar is I'm still going to be proud of myself !," tweeted @Shristi-Chand.

"there's no way in hell im checking my hsc marks today!! waiting for the atar tomorrow omg," wrote another user, @michellee94.

More than 82 per cent of students who completed their whole HSC are eligible for an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank. Students have to wait until Thursday morning at 9am to discover that rank.

Mr Alegounarias said, for those who don't make the cut for university, VET and TAFE courses offer alternate pathways.

"Kids can find a way back into further study and we encourage everyone to continue their study," he said.

Three lists of high achievers are also published today: the top achievers, which lists the top achieving students in the highest band possible for each HSC course, the distinguished achievers, which shows students who have achieved a result in the highest band possible for one or more HSC course, and the Premier's All-Round Achievers list, which recognises students who have achieved results in the highest band possible for at least 10 units of HSC courses.